Change of State
by IShouldBeWriting
Summary: Becker & Jess dancing around each other once again, but the music's changed. The next piece of "Breakable" following "Belief in Abstract Entities".  SPOILER: Contains a passing reference to series 5 episode 1 but it's very minor, blink and you'd miss it


~~oOOo~~

Hilary Becker looked curiously at his lieutenant before checking the firearms log once more.

"Are you certain this is correct," he asked curiously.

"Yes, sir. She checked out half an hour ago and has been downstairs ever since. Corporal Smythe's been downstairs the entire time, said she was still at it."

Becker nodded, grabbed a pair of earplugs off his desk, and headed down to the firing range without another word. The fact that Jess had chosen to go down there on her own was puzzling. While they hadn't resumed their self defence lessons, her physical therapist had said the dislocated shoulder was healed enough to bear up under stress. This was the first time he'd seen evidence of her practicing on her own.

As he came to the first round of security doors, he slowed down to roll the earplugs and insert them into his ears. As he passed through the outer doors, he took a pair of muffs down from a peg on the wall to put on over top of the lower decibel foam plugs. Looking through the plate glass window, he could see Jess' small form outlined in one of the firing booths. Her shoulders stood high in a way that he knew couldn't be good for her aim. With a sigh and a deep calming breath, he prepared himself to go in and gently correct her, hopefully without squashing whatever confident impulse had led her to come practice on her own.

Becker nodded to Smythe, who was down at the other end of the range cleaning up. From all appearances, Jess had completely ignored the sound of the inner doors when they opened to admit him. He stood back out of line of sight, not wanting to distract her while she still had a weapon in her hands. Eying her critically he watched as she continued to breath in, raise the pistol, breath half way out, fire, then complete the exhalation. She continued the process but the tight set of her shoulders remained, speaking of frustration. And looking down range at the target, he could see why; while her shots were hitting the target, they weren't anywhere like her previous level of proficiency.

Becker began to watch more closely, starting with looking down at her stance. Her feet were a comfortable shoulder's width apart, knees relaxed, not locked, hips squared to the target and pulled in to make a clean line upward from her heels. The gentle curve and flair of her waist still made him hunger to wrap his hands around her, pulling in close enough to meld their bodies to each other.

From behind, he couldn't see the rest of her soft curves but he knew where they would be with the same surety of a blind man. He'd memorized them with every single touch and dream he'd had since their relationship began. The pronounced triangle of her shoulder blades beneath a thin shirt left him fighting the desire to see that skin bared before him. Right now though her shoulders were set with a spring's tension. It left him aching to pull her close and rub away the sharp lines. He wanted so badly for Jess to be able to relax within the safety of his arms.

Corporal Smythe looked gave a quick nod in his captain's direction before leaving to return his weapons to the armoury. They were alone, no one but the guns and surveillance cameras for company. Becker turned his attention back to Jess as she ejected the clip from her pistol with a growl and movements made sharp and jerky with frustration. He nodded to himself with approval as she cleared the chamber and set down the weapon pointed properly out toward the targets.

Jess' head and shoulders dropped with resignation as she shook her head at the poor results shown on the paper target half way down range. Seeing the pistol safely out of her hands, Becker finally gave in to impulse and stepped forward silently to wrap her in his arms. His chin settled on her shoulder near her ear left.

"Having a hard time, love?" He said loudly enough that he knew he'd be heard through the ear protection.

His thumb stroked slowly across the exposed seam of warm flesh he'd found where her trousers and shirt didn't quite meet. Becker could feel the vibration radiate into his own body as Jess growled once again and turned around to face him.

"Yes, and this isn't helping," she quipped with annoyance as she reached over his arm to yank the ear protection off her head.

Seeing how angry she was, Becker knew enough to back off. He loosened his arms, letting her slip out of his embrace as she turned her back to him again to load another round of ammunition into the two spent clips sitting on the bench.

"Look, Jess, I know that things aren't easy between us right now, but I'm trying, alright? That has to count for something."

"It does," she replied with far less anger than he'd expected. "But I came down here to get away from my frustrations, not be reminded of them. Your being here makes that impossible."

"I don't know," he said cautiously, "it looked to me like you were already having a hard time when I arrived."

"I was, but that's entirely beside the point," she snapped, as she began to refill her spent clips, flicking bullets into place with hard precision.

"No, it's not," he stated firmly, taking the clip out of her hand and setting it aside. "We've done this before, Jess. You know that I'm a good instructor. Why don't you forget about the rest of this for just a little while and let me help?"

Jess stared down at the polished toes of his boots for a few more moments before looking up again with a sigh. Becker smiled at her encouragingly. He counted it as a significant battle won that he'd read her body language well enough to have not botched the conversation so far. Jess had been justifiably defensive and on edge with him for the past few days. He couldn't truly blame her. Patience only covers so much distance when what you want us just beyond your reach.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Jess admitted with a huff. "No matter how carefully I mind my stance, I'm still not hitting where I aim."

"Show me?" he asked gently.

Jess nodded her agreement then turned to pick up the ear protection and fit it back onto her head. She slid the filled ammunition clip back into the pistol and checked its engagement before turning to look back at Becker once more. Looking behind her, she realized that Becker had only taken a small step backward, standing slightly behind her right shoulder. He gave her a firm nod and gestured toward the targets once again. Intent on proving to herself that she could forget about him, Jess squared her shoulders, brought the pistol up in a comfortably loose grip, and began to aim.

A sharp bark of laughter and Becker's hands on her forearm made her stop cold. Pointing the pistol downward with exaggerated care, she turned toward him with a dirty look.

"What?" she gritted out shortly.

"It's entirely not your fault," he gasped out between breaths.

"Care to elaborate," Jess asked with quiet fury.

"Better yet, I'll show you," he said as his laughter finally died down. "Look, load a new target and fire off just one shot this time."

Jess glared angrily but did as he'd asked, bringing the board forward and stapling a new paper target into place before sending it down range. She took up the pistol once again and fired just once as requested. Wordlessly, Becker gestured for her to hand over the weapon then fired a single shot just as she had done. As Jess stared at the target, trying to puzzle out the problem, Becker retrieved a wooden crate. He placed it in front of her at the firing station and motioned her to stand on top.

"This time we're going to do it together" he told her, as he stepped closer, melding his body to hers. His longer arms settling warmly down around her and his fingers wrapped loosely over her hands in a fierce echo of the way in which their fingers had interlaced so many times before.

Becker closed his eyes for a moment, revelling in the scent of her nearness. There'd been an uncomfortable distance between them for the past few days and he'd found that he didn't like it at all. He missed the simple comfort he felt every time Jess' body was this close. It defied explanation how one person could at once make him feel both so at ease and on edge at the same time.

"How can I possibly fire like this? It's ridiculous," Jess rapped sharply.

"Look, you don't even have to fire, okay? Just set your sights and aim."

"Fine," she huffed bitterly, lifting her arms all the way into place to sight down the top of the pistol's barrel.

She shifted her position a couple of times, up, down, and then up again, before expelling a long slow breath and pointing the pistol toward the ground once more.

"My aim is off because I'm shorter," she finally conceded.

Becker flushed with embarrassment.

"Every time we've come down to practice together I've adjusted the sights to compensate for the difference in height. I'm sorry, it never occurred to me to show you what I was doing."

"Show me now?" Jess asked carefully, her tone finally gentle once again.

Before Becker could respond, Jess' mobile rung. She grimaced as she checked the screen, seeing Lester's number.

"What can I do for you, sir?" She said with exaggerated politeness that had Becker caught halfway between laughing and wincing in sympathy. He knew their employer could be trying at the best of times and unreasonably demanding at the worst.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'd stepped away from my desk. Give me a minute and I'll call you back?" He could hear a muffled reply before Jess closed mobile and ended their call.

"I'm sorry but it will have to wait. Lester's stuck in traffic," Jess shook her head. "He wants me to find him an alternate route. Of all the unreasonable- you'd think from the way he spoke that the traffic was a personal affront."

"It's fine, Jess. You've a job to do. Go; I'll return the equipment to the armoury."

"Thank you," she replied. "And I'd like it if you'd show me later how to adjust the sights for myself. If I'm going to know how to handle something I prefer to know every detail."

"I suppose that goes for people, too, doesn't it?" He asked seriously.

"Yes, it does, love," Jess replied softly. "And I'll be waiting when you're ready to teach me about that, too."

~~oOOo~~

"_Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states."_ - Carol Welch


End file.
